Believe in me
by MidnightRavenFromTheClock
Summary: Jack is invisible because people don't believe in him. But Emma believes in Jack. A short exploration of Jack's life before he became Jack Frost and that one time Jack Frost met a strange girl who could actually see him.


**This is an old story that I never got around to posting. It's based on the idea that, because Jack could only be seen by people who believed in him, his sister would've been able to see him if they'd run into each other.**

1873

 _Jack loved winter._

"Time for bed Jack" Jessica Overland told her over-energetic son.

"I'm not tired yet, mommy." Her five-year-old pouted. Jessica laughed at her adorable son and ruffled his hair. "Besides, daddy's not home yet." He added and Jessica's heart sank. Winter was a hard time to get by in such a small village, Thomas was forced to stay out working till late so that they wouldn't starve and tonight he was still out collecting firewood, preparing for the winter.

"Daddy will be home soon sweetie." Jessica promised, tucking him in.

"But what if something happens?" Jack asked looking up at her with those innocent eyes of his.

"Nothing bad is going to happen, Jack. The Guardians will protect you." Jessica smiled.

"Can you tell me about the Guardians again?" Jack asked with a yawn.

"Sure." Jessica sat down on the edge of Jack's bed. "The four Guardians: Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and the Sand Man are tasked with protecting children and their dreams. As long as they're watching over you nothing bad is ever going to happen to you… Now go to sleep baby, let the Sand Man guide your dreams and don't worry about a thing." Jessica kissed her son on the forehead and left his room, only then letting the smile drop from her face and anxiously glancing out the window.

As Jack looked out his own window and saw the snowflakes starting to fall he felt something warm settle in his chest. Somehow the winter brought a sense of calm for the boy and he fell asleep, feeling safe under the Guardians' protection.

Three years later Jack got a baby sister. She was tiny and beautiful and Jack loved her. But Emma was a strange little thing, crying and fragile, his mom always seemed to be busy with the little girl, his dad was home even less and when he was, he always seemed worn out. Jack loved his family but he was worried and scared, so he remembered the Guardians and sent a little prayer in his head, asking for a little help for his mommy and daddy and protection for his little sister.

Two years later Jack lost his father. The man got sick and faded faster than Jack could understand and suddenly his mom was struggling with work at a local bar while his aunt stayed with him at home, always wearing a bleak expression and Emma, although only two years old wouldn't stop crying. Life was bleak for the Overland family and Jack couldn't understand how this could have happened. When winter finally came and ten-year-old Jack stood there in the cold, letting silent tears roll down his cheeks and listening to Emma throwing another tantrum inside, he finally realized that his father truly wasn't coming back and that it was up to him to protect his tiny family. He wiped his tears and strolled back inside, swallowing his grief and putting a smile on his face instead. He annoyed his aunt and acted silly until he finally got Emma to laugh and that was the day he became the trickster of his family, always up to another scheme. His aunt and mother scolded him, saying he'd never achieve anything if he didn't learn to be serious, but Emma thought he was fun and he could always make her, or anyone else laugh.

 _Jack loved Emma._

When Jack was sixteen and Emma six, Jack stole Emma from her daily studies with her aunt and brought her to the forest, where the snow had painted all the trees a breathtaking white. The snow was to her knees which made her fall, a lot.

"Perhaps you're too small to be out here." Jack laughed already knowing the answer.

"I'm not small, I bet I can run here faster than you." She replayed sticking her tong out.

"Oh yeah? Prove it." He said quickly throwing a snowball at Emma, which knocked her off balance and caused her to once again fall on her butt. She got up laughing, already forming her own snowball. They spent the day playing in the snow and that night Jack told Emma about the Guardians that would protect her from all harm.

 _In the end, Jack was Emma's guardian._

He really didn't think the ice would be too thin. Maybe it was his confidence, maybe his trust in winter, in the Guardians or maybe just his impulsiveness but he honestly never though they could be in danger when he brought Emma to that lake. And then the ice began cracking under Emma's feet.

Jack breathed out a sigh of relief when his sister was safe and then he went under. Cold was seeping into his body, paralyzing him, fear gripped him as he struggled for air. Even underwater, he could still hear Emma's screams. And then there was darkness, there was nothing. Until there was everything.

 _Emma was eight years old when her brother died saving her._

She stood there screaming and crying for a good twenty minutes before she finally realized Jack wasn't coming back up and then she ran like hell, screaming so loud it took five minutes for the people of her village to understand what was wrong. They never found the body. And it was all her fault.

Emma's life changed after that. Her mother retreated into herself, completely throwing herself into work, and her aunt stopped showing up… and she couldn't laugh. Laughter was too much Jack's thing and so even months after the incident Emma still felt like laughing without Jack would equal betraying him. So she didn't. She didn't allow herself to have fun.

 _Emma believed in Jack._

It was two years after the accident when Emma dared approach that lake. It was winter, the lake was frozen over, but she didn't step foot on the ice, never again. She did however, break down crying on the shore.

"You seem upset." Emma heard a voice behind her. She jumped, only to see a hooded figure standing by the trees, the moonlight illuminated him, but all Emma could see through the hood was white hair. The voice though, even after two years, was enough. She held her breath, sure that if she blinked he would vanish.

"Jack?" Emma forced out in a tiny voice.

"You can see me?" His voice held amazement, but also cautiousness.

"Jack." She repeated, her voice breaking and tears coming back to her eyes. She couldn't decide whenever she was scared, happy or just in shock, but what she did know was that she wanted for him to come closer, to hug her and comfort her.

"Hey now, don't cry." He said taking a hesitant step closer. Emma couldn't take it anymore, she ran towards him, trying to throw her arms around him. Startled at the unexpected and unfamiliar gesture Jack flew over and to the other side of the girl and sent an unnatural gush of cold towards her all in one motion. Emma froze as the cold hit her face, forcing her to stumble. She turned around, once again facing Jack and staring at him with wide eyes. A part of her was hurt at the rejection and another afraid of the unnatural abilities from her unnatural dead brother, and so for a moment they stood, both frozen and staring at each other.

Jack scolded himself. He hadn't meant to startle the first person who could see him and in hindsight he realized she hadn't meant any harm, but after two years of being alone he had become cautious of people.

Luckily, even at her young age, Emma knew her brother enough to recognize his reaction as self-defense rather than malice.

"Who are you?" Jack finally broke the silence. Emma's heart broke. Although she was certain the person before her was Jack, she finally realized he wasn't the Jack she knew. He didn't know her, to him Emma was a stranger.

"I-" She cut off, trying to see Jack's face under the hood, but was unable to. She wanted for this moment to last longer, to be with her brother no matter how he was acting, but he had already freaked out when she'd tried hugging him so clearly something was wrong, if she told him she was his sister now, would he react even more severely? Would he believe her? Would he leave? She couldn't bare losing him again. She wanted to say ' _I'm your little sister, and I love you, and you love me. I'm so sorry, God please don't leave me again'._ "I'm Emma" She said instead. "Can I… can I come closer?" She asked carefully. She wanted to touch him, to see his face, to convince herself he wasn't a fragment of her imagination.

"Sure." He said confused she'd want to approach him after what he did earlier. Emma walked forward without hesitation until they were face to face.

"Can I see your face?" She asked then, so Jack raised one hand, amazed when she didn't flinch even thought this small girl had just witnessed his abilities, and took off his hood.

Emma gasped. It was Jack, only his eyes and hair were unfamiliar. "Who are you?" she asked a bit hopeful.

"Jack Frost." He answered. "Why are you crying?" He asked when he noticed the girl's tears returning. He didn't know why, but something inside of him couldn't bare seeing this girl upset.

"I lost my brother… you remind me of him." Emma explained vaguely.

"Oh, is that why you were acting so strange?" Jack asked, realization coming to his eyes. He looked around trying to find something to cheer Emma up with, there was almost an instinctive need to protect Emma. So he raised his hands and carefully created a butterfly out of the snow, then he made it fly around Emma. She looked at the creature with amazement, her tears finally stopping.

"That is so beautiful." She said carefully touching it only for it to break into thousands of small snowflakes and dance around her. A laugh escaped Emma's mouth before she even realized it.

"There you go." Jack said happily before she could start feeling guilty and somehow seeing his eyes light up from her laugh made the guilt fade into the background. She wanted to see him happy, so she allowed herself to laugh again and before she knew it they were fighting in the snow just like before, except now with snow flying around on its own it was so much more than that. That ability Jack had possessed to bring people fun was now so much more pronounced.

Emma wanted to tell him, wanted to tell him _everything._ It didn't matter if he had strange abilities or if he was supposed to be dead.

"Will you stay?" She asked instead.

Jack stared at her like she was the strangest creature he'd ever seen. "I-"

"Emma!"

Startled, Emma turned around only to see her mother running over.

"Oh Emma, what were you thinking? Coming out here on your own..." Jessica was looking over Emma frantically, her eyes frightened.

"Mom, I'm okay." She reassured and then turned towards Jack, excitement bubbling inside her-

He was gone.

Again.

"Goodbye." She whispered.

 _Jack remembered Emma._

It was many, many years later that Jack remembered who he had been. At first, with everything happening, there simply wasn't time to process what he'd learned. Only after, when the frill of simply being seen settled down that Jack really thought back on his lost family.

He thought about the one time before that a human had been able to see him, it'd been so long ago that the memory had almost faded away, in fact, he'd often wondered whenever he'd simply made it up. But now he froze with realization. Emma. It had been Emma. She'd seen him… because she'd believed in him. Warmth spread through Jack at the thought.

Jack loved Emma.

 **Well I hope this turned out okay. You can also follow me on Tumblr, I'm inwinterhaze**


End file.
